How to improve a child's learning ability

It's so interesting. We used to think that every child was born with a certain brain that defined their intelligence and that limited what they could achieve. We don't believe that anymore. Now we believe that every child comes with a brain that can grow and grow as the child learns, as the child pushes past boundaries, as the child gets out of his or her comfort zone and learns new things. In fact, we know now that every time a child stretches themselves to learn, their brains form new connections. And they can get smarter and smarter over time.

Carol Dweck, PhD

Psychologist & Author

Carol S. Dweck, PhD, is a leading researcher in the field of motivation and is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford. Her research focuses on why students succeed and how to foster their success. More specifically, her work has demonstrated the role of mindsets in success and has shown how praise for intelligence can undermine students’ motivation and learning.

She has also held professorships at and Columbia and Harvard Universities, has lectured to education, business, and sports groups all over the world, and has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and to the National Academy of Sciences. She recently won the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association, the highest award in Psychology.

Her work has been prominently featured in such publications as The New Yorker, Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, and The London Times, with recent feature stories on her work in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Washington Post, and she has appeared on such shows as Today, Good Morning America, NPR’s Morning Edition, and 20/20. Her bestselling book Mindset (published by Random House) has been widely acclaimed and has been translated into 20 languages.

It's so interesting. We used to think that every child was born with a certain brain that defined their intelligence and that limited what they could achieve. We don't believe that anymore. Now we believe that every child comes with a brain that can grow and grow as the child learns, as the child pushes past boundaries, as the child gets out of his or her comfort zone and learns new things. In fact, we know now that every time a child stretches themselves to learn, their brains form new connections. And they can get smarter and smarter over time.